Cookin' Chili

Sounds good Lud but I really like a bit of Carne in mine.

Usually minced steak with red and green peppers tinned plum and a bit of sun dried tomato onion ginger garlic black sugar red kidney beans scotch bonnets and Jalepeno with Piripiri Tabasco and Encona.

Stew it down and throw it over some nice rice

Yum

P

Do you dip with some warm corn tortillas?

I gave up being a veggie about five years ago but I still love veggie chili.

Up 'ere in Yorkshire I use onions, garlic, celery, mushrooms, kidney beans, heinz baked beans, chopped tomato, a dash of worcester sauce, a spoonful of marmite and a heaped teaspoon of those pre-chopped lazy chillies. The longer it cooks the better it tastes.

Accompanied by some crusty bread or better still corn tortillas baked with a bit of grated cheese and of course a bottle of red that can hold its own (shiraz seems up to the job).

Lovely!

Martin

Dips and chips? Too right

Do you Guacomole?

Mine's a subtle blend of avacodo spring onion fresh tomato flesh and coriander sufused with herbs and other exotic ingredients which I'd love to tell y'all 'bout but time is short...

Oh and Tesco value corn chips, 29p a bag.

Yum

P

No- I meant taking an entire soft corn tortilla and dipping it into the chili, not tortilla chips.

And I don't guac as I end up eating the avocados before I get to making the dip.

Anyone made old-style chili, with the tomatoey stuff, chiles, onion, and meat as the chili, and beans served separately?

Refried beans?

Eeeww. Like eating vomit

P

You're getting on my nerves, little man.

Whatever beans you like- pinto, black, kidney, etc. Whole or smashed and refried, you decide.

I do the veggie chili thing too. A nice addition is a teaspoon or so of freshly ground coffee.
Tony

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A nice addition is a teaspoon or so of freshly ground coffee

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Interesting prospect.

A pinch of cinnamon can work minor wonders too.

Eric

Hey Ludwig - don't get so uppity. If you're really a newcomer here just stick around a while and you'll soon discover I get on everyones nerves. Especially rude boys. Nothing personal.

BTW I see you've posted nearly a thousand times here in just six months. You been here before?

Well that's my Good Samaritan bit for the day

Byee!

P

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Anyone made old-style chili, with the tomatoey stuff, chiles, onion, and meat as the chili, and beans served separately?

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Yep, do that a lot; works surprisingly well using quorn mince for a veggie version, in fact I generally prefer it.For real fun substitute Scotch Bonnett sauce for the chiles...

Just a splash of red wine or lemon juice really works well in any chile/tomato based dish, too.

I mix the following chiles: Mulato, Ancho, Pasilla, Chipotle and Habanero - makes a tasty and firey mix.

I'm a bit of a chile anorak. Also, if you're food's good n'hot you can eat more without gaining weight, apparently (or in my case, apparently not).

Alex

Veggie for me, too. When I ate meat it would always be chunked rather than mince although veggie mince is OK (no aorta or lung pieces) but it does increase the gaseousness!

I find black beans are best simply because you can get a lovely gravy from slow cooking them. My wife is from Brazil and makes feijoada with black beans with a wonderful consistency and I try to get some of this in my chilli. If using kidney beans I tend to add a little flour after softening the onions.

Spice-wise, smoked garlic, ground cumin & coriander/cilantro seed (both heated in a dry skillet and then ground), Mexican oregano (available in Sainsbury's), lots of ground pepper and some chili powder or, preferably, dried chipotle. I then use fresh Jalapeņos for the heat.

Yes, guacamole

Yes, re-fried beans

Even more yes to bean dip, which for God-knows whatever reason, has yet to infiltrate the British culinary consciousness so I've had to develop a recipe but that's anothoer thread.

Dave

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Also, if you're food's good n'hot you can eat more without gaining weight, apparently

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Oh yeah???

Being slightly lazy I tend to use sauces/powder mixes from Discovery which I have found to be excellent.
John

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Originally posted by Dave J:
My wife is from Brazil and makes feijoada

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Feijoada is by far my favorite Brazilian dish. Brasiladas are by far the most beautiful women. You have quite the life by my standards Dave.

I think I'll make some sort of chili tonight. Comments here have given me some new ideas...

Does anyone else have problems using fresh chili? It doesn't seem to matter whether it's bonnets, the thin Thai ones or just the nameless squabby ones - there doesn't seem to be any consistency. Sometimes it'll take your head off, at others the same quantity will be irredeemably bland. If it comes out right, the depth of flavour is immesurably better than powder, but I'm starting to find I want to avoid disappointments. Any hints?

Also, length of cooking time is an area in which I'd like guidance. I usually go for about 1 1/2 hrs, but I seem to remember Miss Ellie used to go for considerably longer ... but perhaps Dallas isn't what I should be looking to?

throb

I fondly rememeber a chili we used to make in University. I can't remember the meaures but I get a feeling it didn't matter:

-Ground beef: very important, do not drain the fat!

-generic chili powder.

-a bunch of tomatoes

-beans of any and all description

-onions, haphazardly chopped

-a small amount of dark brown spice, the name of which escapes me.

-some brown sugar

-a can of beer, preferably pale ale.

-the secret ingredient was to crush as much garlic as humanly possible. Get 2 or 3 people working on this. 20-30 cloves will do.

Served on a bed of white toast and cheddar cheese grated on top. You can feel the gas building up as the chili traveled down your upper intestines on its way to fermentation in your bowels.
We would have parties and serve this stuff, the catch being there was no way you could go out in public after eating it.
All the better, as there was studying to be done. I would lock myself up in my room in rez with the window wide open, even though it was -40 oot.

[This message was edited by Mike Sae on TUESDAY 04 November 2003 at 20:15.]

My personal secret, for the benefit of all:

Chocolate.

Makes all the difference. I grow my own chiles, this year ranging from heatless (sweet bells & anaheim) up to scorching (USDA certified Red Savina Habanero, though I should have planted earlier).

Growing chiles is easy and if you're into hot food, it's well worth it.

John

TC '..'
"Sun went down in honey. Moon came up in wine. Stars were spinnin' dizzy, Lord, the band kept us so busy we forgot about the time."

Throb, try roasting the chilies. Put them directly on a (cooktop's) burner and rotate until all sides are blistered (not burned). Then place them in a paper bag for 20 minutes or so. Remove them, and peel the skin off. Roasted chilies add a bit more flavor, but some inconsistency will still exist. Alternatively, just use the smallest varieties of chilies. If my memory serves me, the smaller the chili the more potent.

I use black coffee in my barbecue sauces. I've heard of chocolate (and everything else imagineable) used in the hardcore Texas chili contests.

Algers, welcome home. What's marmite?

I add beer to all of my recipes, although not until the main dish reaches my stomach.

Pieces of sausage such as chorizo or kabanos add to the mix quite well.

I use chocolate too, for my veggie chillis. I also used diced apple which seems to work rather well (you put the apple in at a very early stage so that it brakes down to thicken the sauce).

Last night's "Texas-style" chili was a nice alternative to veggie chili.

Once I eat this batch (and make beer n' beef stew) I'll be done with beef for a while, maybe months.